General Music Chat

Supply and Demand - a basic economic fact.

In the greater Boston area there's as many performing musicians as there are actors in Hollywood, and all are scrambling for a piece of the pie.
Those who do it 'for a living' - in other words aren't working any regular-type of job - will take any gig at any amount of money.
Case in point - yesterday someone posted on a facebook group an available gig at a local health food-coffee/lunch place. Saturday afternoon 1-3 - this can be done acoustically, or with a small PA. Load in at 12:15, so figure total time there is about 3 hours. No break in that 2-hour set. Pay: $65 + a 'meal' (all they have are things like sprout sandwiches). 3 or 4 people had responded immediately to play the gig. And you need to pay for parking in that town on a Saturday afternoon. So pay is about $20/hour. And people are jumping on it.
I've been getting a bunch of gig requests through the Gigsalad web site. Even though I really don't' want to be doing solo gigs, I've bid on them, but the pay is figured on $50 - net - per hour, so I add for Gigsalad's $20 fee plus transportation/expenses. One day I'll get one of these gigs and think 'sh*t, should have bid higher'! I'd rather not play a show than play for peanuts.

ok, Jimmy, Mike and me, all suggested it's "supply and demand" a business concept.. true.. but what explains beyonce getting $2,000.00 a seat in Los Angeles tonight?

well, the thing about playing a house band gig w a regular paycheck or even playing a farmer's mkt gig for tips and produce.....no one has to put their noses up in the air worrying about their Punk Cred and pose to be some big deal artistes.

to each his own.....i get that there are some willing to play the local big city rock stars sharing a stage w three other bands playing "SHOWS".....good for them. whatever floats yer boat as my mom likes to say.

trust me, if i wanted to do that, there are plenty of places here that cater to that scene....local rockers and punks playing the big fish in their little pond. yeah, we got that here in Bumblefuck too.

no thanks. give me steady decent paying gigs w good musicians at PAYING restaurants, bars, wineries, and yeah, a steady paying gig at a truckstop where the band is appreciated by not just the patrons but the venue owners as well. i'm not quite sure what's sneerable about that but, whatev.

like i said. to each his own.

and now...i gotta pack the car up and get down the road to a (paying) gig.

Hey Jimmy. As far as i'm concerned you're one of the good guys around here and I trust that you know i have big respect for your skills. So, it's all good.

I wasn't "siding w RG" even tho we have similar though not the same views on this. i don't feel that bands that play for less than what I consider a fair shake.... "Dirt Bags".

i wish they wouldn't but i certainly understand their motiviation for doing so. in the end, musicians just want to play and we all want to play for an audience. i get that.

all;s i can say is that you'd better be sporting a big bank roll if you're wanting to hear "Girl From Ip."

last time i played it was on a solo gig when some high roller requested it. i figured it'd be good for a nice tip ( see...now i've demonstrated WHO is the WHORE). anyhow i played it for him but did a Travis style fingerpicking version complete w alt bass. It was good for few laughs and the guy did show some love and tossed a 20 in the tip jar.

that's enough for now...i got's to get my arse in gear!

Re union

I had to join the union years ago for a band that was booked into union specific clubs. They never did much for me except collect dues. But doesn't the musician's union still exist?

I should add that I also played venues the union had on their sh*t list, and made good money. Always ducking and dodging and trying to keep my money where it belongs, in my pocket!


Talbot

If you have performed professionally for any length of time,you know how venues have a tendency to
underpay you. While you're up on stage giving your all,the owner is counting the take. If you have a good
manager,they have the privilege of reminding the venue owner that you don't work for peanuts.

Streaming services are a another place where we get crumbs.I think they should pay at least 10 cent
or more per stream, we have to make a living too. Musicians should be more vocal about being fairly
compensated. How do you feel about all this ?

Having been in the music business for over 40 years, musician/promoter/producer/employer all over the world none of the bands have ever worked for free except charity gigs, and none of them ever would or will. As a mater of fact, the musicians I have worked with are and were very passionate about their music and the love of music. Bands need to under stand the green thumb of gigging. Your band isn't cool because of the venue you play at - the venue is cool because your band is playing there.
Hello, Ajax Plumbing, my toilet is plugged with Jimmy Danger's sh*t, do you think you could come over and fix it for free.
To start with, the only way musicians can be fairly compensated is to stop Dirt bag bands and scam artist promoters/bars who play for free or pay to play. As you will hear just from this thread their are a crap load of Jimmy Dangers out and about trying to justify the pin head way of thinking.

Seems like the 'pay to play' scammers have departed the Boston scene recently, as least I no longer see them advertising. The same bars/clubs are still booking 3-4 bands a night (1 set each), but paying directly - however poorly.
But these are bands - and guaranteed none of the players in these bands are relying solely on the band income to live - they all have 'regular' jobs unless they're retired or on disability.
But its the soloists or duos who ARE living solely on gig income that concern me. When I see all these people hopping on a low paying gig, I purposely don't put my name in to play them - not just because the pay sucks, but because I don't want to take income away from someone who really needs it. However, many of the players out there who are NOT living on gig income don't look at it that way, and just take any gig/play a set for 'pass the hat' they find, which keeps the pay scale at poverty level for everyone.